The Air Up There

"I took a leap... and discovered I could fly."

I'd like to say that my journey has just begun, but really it started awhile back. I won't go into all of it here, but you can read about the beginnings of of experiment in fear conquering here. It has shown me that I'm much more capable of more than I ever thought possible.

Can't say I'm one of those people who have loved planes her whole life. I liked them well enough, sure, and had an appreciation for them. Been flying on commercial jets since I was 6 months old, so no fears about flying. Turbulence would scare me a little, which inspired me to feel as though I was apart of the airplane so I would not feel as nervous. Think I started doing that about 10 years ago, when I'd go to visit my parents in Florida after they moved down there.

Always loved "Top Gun" (and not because of Tom Cruise). Just discovering now that I use a lot of analogies in my everyday speech that involve flying or airplanes. My Mom learned to fly planes when she was younger than I am now. My Dad was in the Air Force (but never flew). A lot of my guy friends are pilots. Looking around now, it seems like I was born into an aviation lifestyle, even though I never realized it before.

About a year and a half ago, my life was turned inside out. I started stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things. One of those 'new things' was to attend an air show in October of 2010. I remember when there was one about 2 years previous. Since I lived near the Air Force Base, I got to see them practicing overhead and I was intrigued, but I did not end up going. But this time I did... and have never looked back.

I was in awe from the moment I arrived. I had no idea it would be so HUGE! I looked at all of the airplanes, I walked through some of them and sat in some others. It was like a Disney World of airplanes  - I could have lived there. But none of this could compare to watching them fly! They soared through the sky doing aerobatics that I've only ever dreamed about doing. The Canadian Snowbirds, Aerobatic pilots galore...and finally, the air show finished with the Blue Angels. Could barely take my eyes off the sky. The roar of the plane engines lit a fire in my heart that has never stopped burning. I left that air show feeling alive as I never have before. And ever since then, I have to glance to the sky whenever I hear a plane go by.

I had signed up on a mailing list for a flight school at the air show. Couldn't tell you why. Learning to fly flickered through my brain and was quickly extinguished. About a week later, the flight school sent out an e-newsletter with a special deal for an intro flight. The thought about flying was lit again, but I was too scared to go for it at the time. However, I watched those e-newsletters and promised myself when I saw it again to jump on it.

Months passed. The deal did not come up again. I signed up for Groupon, thinking they may have another deal with another school. I made a list of things I wanted to do (aviation and non-aviation related) and promised myself that if I saw a good deal pop up on Groupon to not let them go. Figured maybe I should get rid of my fear of heights in stages. Another thing I wanted to do was go up in a helicopter. Sure enough, that Groupon came up first. (Ironically enough, the Groupon popped up after about 3 days of me saying I wanted to do this.)

I may have held my breath when I went for it, but I bought the ticket. I think I jumped up and down and screamed for a week - I was THAT excited. I may have been afraid, but my excitement was bigger. We took off on February 20th, 2010. It was a 30 minute ride and I took 58 pictures during it. I love the city of Atlanta anyways, but I fell a little bit more in love with it that day.

Just after, a Groupon for a flight lesson came up. I sat and thought about it all day. Merely thinking about pressing that "BUY" button was making my palms sweaty. I had one hour left to purchase it and I took a deep breath, thinking about if I did not go for it, would I regret it in the morning? The answer was a resounding "YES!!", so I went for it. The expiration date on it was for a year after purchase, so I had plenty of time to still work up to it.

The next one was for a biplane ride, which I'll admit scared me a little. It was REALLY breezy and we had lots of turbulence, which made the plane go all over the place. I was relieved to get back on the ground.

So I waited for a bit... and waited a bit more. Hoping my love for aviation would override the fear I had. I conquered my fear of roller coasters in there, too, and hoped that would take away a little bit of the fear of heights. And I waited a little bit more.

Then one day, I was walking outside. A military jet flew overhead, and of course, I looked up to take in it's beauty through my eyes. It was so beautiful gliding through the air. My eyes sparkled, my heart soared with the sound of the purring engine. The plane turned on its side and swooped around in a turn. The top of it was a baby blue color - one I have never seen on a plane before. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help but stop and stare. It cast a giant shadow over the tops of the trees, like a pterodactyl. I literally think my mouth dropped open watching it fly. And then, that's when the thought hit me - "I no longer want to be a passenger. I want to fly". I smiled at the thought. I was now ready. I was tired of constantly saying, "I wanna fly" and wanted to actually take the next step and do it.

It was the beginning of May. I checked my calendar to pick out a day for my first flight. Memorial Day weekend was the next available time I had. It was fine - gave me even more time to get ready and maybe study a little before my flight. Besides, it was my secret goal to make whomever I flew with to say "Wow, are you sure you haven't flown before?".

I learned the pilot's alphabet during lunch one day at work and promptly asked everyone around me to quiz me. A friend gave me a free demo CD of Ground School lessons and I began watching it - learning about thrust, lift, drag and gravity. I even made sure my Talespin t-shirt was ready and clean for the flight.

The day of the flight arrived. I had been watching the weather the whole week before. Was worried it would get cancelled due to weather and it nearly was. The week before they had predicted thunder storms. As the day of the flight lesson got closer, the predicted thunder storms changed to 'cloudy', which changed to 'sunny'. I was ecstatic. I woke up early that day and headed down to airport early. I didn't care. This was the airport where I had my helicopter and biplane rides from. It was like a second home to me. There's nothing I loved more than watching the planes take off. Besides, I still needed some down time to calm my nerves and rushing down there, worrying about being late wasn't the way to do it.

The butterflies in my stomach were doing jumping jacks. I was soo nervous. Finally, the flight school opened and one of the instructors introduced himself to me. I had to restrain myself from squeaking when I heard his name because I knew he was the person I was flying with. It took a long time to sign all of the paperwork and get everything ready, but that was fine because I was still a little nervous.

The pre-flight check was pretty neat. Don't think I've ever seen a plane in that much detail up close before. It was soo tiny!! Couldn't believe I'd be sitting in this thing and be in the air soon...

To Be Continued... ;)